Museums & Attractions

Biloxi has a rich 300 year history and the art, architecture, and culture that helped shape this community are highlighted in several area museums and attractions – many of which are located in the Main Street District. Whether you are here for a weekend getaway or a family vacation, you are sure to find an activity to fit each person’s interests!

Biloxi Lighthouse

Hwy 90 at Porter Avenue
Erected in 1848, the BiloxiLighthouse is reportedly the first cast metal lighthouse in the south. The light was civilian operated from 1848 to 1939, and is notable for its several female lightkeepers, including Maria Younghans, who tended the light for 53 years. In 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the light’s operation. After being declared surplus property in 1968, the Biloxi Lighthouse was deeded to the City of Biloxi.

Phone: 228-435-6308; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us; Hours: One tour daily at 10:00am Monday through Saturday, closed municipal holidays; Admission: $2 Adults, $1 Seniors/Students. Group tours available, please call for reservations.

Saenger Theatre

170 Reynoir Street
When constructed in 1929, the Biloxi Saenger Theatre was hailed as “gem of the Gulf Coast”. Originally host to early sound films, traveling shows and vaudeville, the Saenger Theatre is now a performing arts center for the Gulf Coast.

Phone: 228-435-6291; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: saenger@biloxi.ms.us; Please call for information on upcoming performances.

Beauvoir

Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, is the nation’s most comprehensive site dealing with Mississippi’s favorite son and confederate, Jefferson Davis. A National Historic Landmark, the complex includes the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, the restored antebellum home, the Confederate Museum and veterans cemetery on 51 landscaped acres fronting the Gulf of Mexico.

Phone: 228-388-1313; Hours: Seven days a week 9:00amto 5:00pm (spring and summer) 9:00am to 4:00pm (fall and winter); Admission: $7.50 Adults; $6.75 Seniors, Active Military; $4.50 Children. Groups tours available, please call 228-388-9074 for reservations. Gift Shop.

Maritime And Seafood Industry Museum

115 First Street
Located on the eastern tip of the Biloxi peninsula, the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum is housed in a Spanish influence structure built in 1934 as part of a U.S. Coast Guard station. The museum was established in 1986 to preserve and interpret the maritime history and heritage of Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It accomplishes this mission though an array of exhibits containing historic photographs and objects. Visitors can experience the tremendous impact of hurricanes on Biloxi through an exhibit and film on Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Gulf Coast in 1969. The museum has brought Biloxi’s maritime history to life by replicating two full-size Biloxi schooners, which sail the Gulf waters daily.

Phone: 228-435-6320; Web Site: www.maritimemuseum.org; E mail: schooner@maritimemuseum.org; Hours: Monday through Saturday 9:00am to 4:30pm, (Sunday 12:00pm to 4:00pm Memorial Day though Labor Day); Admission $3 Adults, $2 children 6 –16 and seniors. Group tours and schooner trips available, please call for reservations. Gift shop.

J.L. Scott Marine Education Center And Aquarium

115 Beach Boulevard
Come to the J. L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium and learn about the diverse ecosystem that has shaped Biloxi’s history as a seafood processing center and resort destination. The center, located next to the Isle of Capri Casino, features living displays of coastal zone animals, 48 aquariums including the 44,000 gallon Gulf of Mexico exhibit and a touch tank. Educational exhibits and films help teach visitors about the Gulf Coast’s rich natural resources.

Phone: 228-374-5550; Web Site: www.ims.usm.edu/-jlscott/index.htm.; Hours: Monday through Saturday 9:00am to 4:00pm; Admission $4.00 Adults, $3.50 Seniors, $2.50 Youth (3–17), under 3 free. Gift Shop.

Tullis-Toledano Manor

360 Beach Boulevard
Built in 1856 as a wedding present for Matilde Pradat by her husband Christoval Toledano, Tullis-Toledano Manor is a striking example of Greek Revival architecture. Constructed on a French plan with rich architectural detail, the house is furnished in a period style to interpret Biloxi’s antebellum history. Badly damaged by Hurricane Camille, Tullis and its beautiful grounds were purchased by the City of Biloxi in 1975 and restored as a historic house museum and recreational area.

Phone: 228-435-6293; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us; Hours:11:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Saturday, closed municipal holidays; Admission: $2 Adults, $1 Seniors/Students. Group tours available, please call for reservations.

Old Brick House

622 Bayview Avenue
Overlooking the Back Bay, the Old Brick House is an example of the mingling of French colonial and American building traditions in Biloxi. The house sits on property once owned by Jean Baptiste Carquotte, who received a land grant from the Spanish government in 1784. Saved from neglect by Biloxi’s garden clubs in the 1950s, the house is now owned by the City of Biloxi and operated as ahistoric house museum and community gathering place.

Phone: 228-435-6121; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us; Hours:11:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Saturday, closed municipal holidays; Admission: $2 Adults, $1 Seniors/Students. Group tours available, please call for reservations.

Biloxi Visitors Center

Located on the Town Green, the Biloxi Visitors Center is housed in the c. 1895 Brielmaier House. Originally composed of three rooms with a gallery on the front and sides, the house boasts some of the most elaborate Victorian detailing in Biloxi. The Foretich House, a late 19th century vernacular lateral wing shotgun style building, adjoins the Brielmaier House. Biloxi’s Town Green, a center of community activity, is host to several festivals and events. Tourism representatives are available to help visitors with information on many coast attractions.

Phone: 228-374-3105, 1-800-BILOXI-3; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E-Mail: visitor@biloxi.ms.us; Hours: Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm, Saturday 9:00am to 4:30pm.

The Ohr - O’keefe Museum Of Art

136 G. E. Ohr Street
The Ohr Gallery of this exciting visual arts museum houses the largest permanent collection of the works of George E. Ohr (1857-1917), the self-proclaimed “Mad Potter of Biloxi.” He claimed to be “unrivaled” and “unequaled” and was, by his own estimation, the “world’s greatest potter.” Despite his reputation for eccentricity, Ohr produced art pottery that will be appreciated for centuries. Ohr’s claim that there were “NO TWO ALIKE” is true. The thinness of the walls of his twisted clay forms illustrate George Ohr’s unrivaled technical skill.
Exhibits by regional and national artists rotate in the Lila Wallace and Jambalaya Galleries. Ohriginals Museum Store features books, educational toys, gifts and one-of-a-kind pottery and jewelry. Experience the “No Two Alike” phenomenon with Frank Gehry’s design for the new museum campus opening in early 2006.

Winter hours: Monday – Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 p
Daylight savings time hours: Monday – Saturday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: Adults - $6.00, Seniors - $5.00, Members, Full-time Students and Children under 12 – Free. An $8.00 combo ticket includes admission to both the Museum and Historic Pleasant Reed House.

Historic Pleasant Reed House

386 Beach Boulevard
Although the story of America is usually told through the lives of rich and powerful people, a major part of the great fabric that is the American experience has been woven by common men and women whose determination, hard work and ideals helped to define the American Dream. Pleasant Reed was a common man who made a contribution to American history in spite of incredible odds. He built this historic sidehall camelback shotgun house with his own hands in 1887. Authentic furnishings from the early 1900s will take you back in time to another era. The relocation of the Pleasant Reed House to the future site of Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art insures that this cultural and educational resource can be used to tell the story of a modest but remarkable man who was part of Biloxi’s diverse cultural legacy.

Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Admission: Adults - $6.00, Seniors - $5.00, Members, Full-time Students and Children under 12: Free
An $8.00 combo tickets includes admission to both the Pleasant Reed House and Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art
228-436-3950, Fax: 228-435-4435

Mardi Gras Museum

119 Rue Magnolia
Come catch the Mardi Gras spirit! Located in the historic Magnolia Hotel, Biloxi’s Mardi Gras Museum traces the three hundred year history of the celebration of Mardi Gras on the Gulf Coast. On display are costumes, photographs and memorabilia of carnival celebrations along the coast.

Phone: 228-435-6245; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us; Hours:11:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Saturday, closed municipal holidays; Admission: $2 Adults, $1 Seniors/Students. Group tours available, please call for reservations. Gift Shop.